Being tested for rail porter’s job: an MA,a Computer Master’s,pregnant 20-yr-old

“I was married to Udai Pratap a year ago. This is my first baby,” says Reeta. Her face is flushed from the exertion,she is panting a little after completing the test.

Reeta and Udai have no land of their own. Udai,poor and disabled,has a small shop in their village near Allahabad,but it can’t sustain the family. With their baby on the way,Reeta decided she needed to add to the family’s income doing whatever she could.

Last year,the Railway Board issued guidelines that women could be licensed to be porters if they met specified eligibility criteria. North Central Railway (NCR) has now announced 344 vacancies in the Allahabad division. Physical endurance tests have been on at the DSA Ground here since July 20.

Reeta,Nafisa and Renu were among 19 women who turned up for the test on Thursday. Seventeen of them attempted to run the 200 m qualifying distance carrying 25 kg sacks on their heads. The qualifying time was 4 minutes,a minute more than what it was for male applicants.

Some 4,800 people have applied for the 344 posts; 27 of them are women. The women have come from places scattered around UP: Allahabad,Fatehpur,Tundla,Lalitpur,Aligarh,Mirzapur,Etawah,Ghaziabad,and even Faridabad in Haryana.

Reeta,and all others who qualified,will have to now appear for a 100-mark interview before they get their porter’s licence. Under Railway rules,experienced candidates will get preference.

Apart from the relaxation in the qualifying time,there is no difference in the tests for men and women. There is no reservation for women.

A porter’s licence is valid till the time the holder is medically fit to lift loads. Every four years,they have to appear before a medical board,said Additional Commercial Manager,Allahabad Division,Ashutosh Mishra,who is in charge of the recruitments.

Nafisa Bano narrates the story of how an MA degree could get her nowhere better than in the queue for a porter’s licence.

“I am an MA in History. Due to some personal circumstances and the prolonged illness of my husband,my family is now on the verge of starvation. I have three daughters and two sons. All except the two elder daughters are minors. When I read that women were being selected to become porters,I decided to appear for the test. I have to earn for my family.”

Renu Singh’s reasons are similar.

“My parents died in a road accident a few years ago,” she says. “Being the eldest in the family,I have decided to become a porter,” says the unmarried 22-year-old from Sonia Gandhi’s Lok Sabha constituency.

Sangeeta Singh of Ghaziabad has a Masters in computer applications. Desperate for a job at a time the slowdown has hit the IT sector hard,she came to Allahabad to be a porter,but pulled out of the test when told she would have to run with a 25-kg load on the head.

NCR PRO Amit Malviya said this was for the first time that women had participated in the physical test for porters in the zone. R D Bajpai,Chief PRO,NCR,said the railway zone has around 2,500 porters in its three divisions of Allahabad,Jhansi and Agra.